Aaron Eckhart on the Legacy of Christopher Nolan's Batman Franchise

We recently had actor Aaron Eckhart, who played Harvey Dent/Two-Face in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, on the Keepin' It Reel podcast to talk about his new film Erased. During the course of the discussion we touched on his work with Nolan and where he feels that Warner Brothers should take Batman in the post-Nolan era.

Here is what he had to say in reflecting back on his experience with the director and thinking about where the franchise could go next:

"I mean, look, Iron Man is so successful and the tone of Iron Man is completely different than the Nolan Batman series. They're both very successful, right? And both entertaining. You could take Batman that way. You know Chris (Nolan) has done such hard work and created this tone, and Christian (Bale) has, and Heath (Ledger) and everyone who's been in these movies. I'd hate to see it be trivialized. Batman's kind of special because it's one of the last comic books, or only comic books, that's truly tackling, in my opinion, issues. And relevant issues. I mean when I read The Dark Knight I go, 'this is a comic book movie? This is insane.' I mean you're talking about a city that's being taken over by corrupt forces and nobody will stand up for good, for decency and humanity and nobody can walk to the streets at night. Who wants to live in that city? And do the people really have to be vigilantes to set things right? I mean serious issues and it wasn't tongue in cheek. And that's where Heath was just so amazing. You know I said to Gary (Oldman), 'You know Gary how do you act in one of these things, what's the tone of it?' And that's a conversation I had with Chris. And to see Heath just take this thing deadly serious was exciting, and I feel privileged to have been a part of that, and I would hate to lose that because everybody who comes up to me on the street all over the world, the thing that they inevitably say about The Dark Knight is that it's about something, it's serious, it resonates with them. Look, I don't know because I'm just an actor, but I don't know that Chris would ever give up total control of this franchise. I can't see Chris ever letting go of this movie."

For Eckhart on Two-Face, I, Frankenstein & More Listen to the Full Interview and Podcast Here